Meet The People

Meet some of the people you'll encounter in the pages of Dead Man Walking: Graphic Edition, including:

  • Millard Farmer, attorney for Patrick Sonnier and Robert Willie;
  • Barbara Major, community organizer;
  • Sister Lilianne Flavin, who worked with Sr. Helen in the St. Thomas Projects;
  • Bill Quigley, civil rights lawyer;
  • Mary Ann Antrobus (Prejean), Sr. Helen's sister;
  • Richard Glossip, whose case Glossip v. Gross plays a part in Eighth Amendment jurisprudence;
    and, of course
  • Sister Helen Prejean

The clips come from a variety of sources. Especially important has been footage filmed during the making of the 2017 documentary SISTER by Joe Cardona and José L. Vázquez.

As with most films, dozens - sometimes hundreds - of hours of filming go to create a 90-minute film and so inevitably much good material ends up unused. Fortunately, we have access to all of that footage.

You can view or download the entire SISTER documentary.

Note: The list of pages below each name indicates on which pages that person appears in Dead Man Walking: Graphic Edition. 

Barbara Major

(Pages 187, 202-205)

Barbara Major (now Barbara Crain Major) has been a community organizer and anti-racism trainer for many years. She and Sister Helen Prejean worked together on The Pilgrimage for Life described in Dead Man Walking, and they have continued to work together.

Barbara is the co-author with Joseph Barndt of Deconstructing Racism: A Path Towards Lasting Change.

Barbara Major

(Pages 187, 202-205)

Talking about the difficulties white people face in understanding racial inequities.

 

Sister Helen Prejean

(Too many pages to count!)

A short lesson on how to pronounce Helen Prejean.

Sister Helen Prejean

When Angola switched from the electric chair to lethal injection, Eddie Sonnier was asked to work on the new gurney. Sister Helen explains what happened next.

Sister Helen Prejean

On waking up to justice (the short and sassy version)

Sister Helen Prejean

Sister Helen Prejean talking about the connection between prayer and action.

Millard Farmer

(Pages 83, 98–100, 102, 104, 115, 130, 149, 154–55, 162, 189, 221, 252)

Millard Farmer was a civil rights and capital defense attorney who fought relentlessly against racism and discrimination. It was he who Sr. Helen turned to when Patrick Sonnier was facing an execution date.

Millard Farmer died in 2020.

Millard Farmer

(Pages 83, 98–100, 102, 104, 115, 130, 149, 154–55, 162, 189, 221, 252)

Millard Farmer on Sister Helen's work.

 

Bill Quigley

(Pages 108-109, 132)

Civil rights attorney Bill Quigley was already working in the St. Thomas housing projects when Sister Helen arrived there in the late 1970s.

Bill Quigley

(Pages 108-109, 132)

Bill Quigley talks about a conversation he once had with his six-year-old son about the death penalty.

Sister Lilianne Flavin

(Pages 102, 174)

When Sister Helen Prejean moved into the St. Thomas Housing Projects in 1978, Sister Lilianne Flavin was already working there at Hope House, where the Adult Learning Center was located.

Sister Lilianne still works there today.

Mary Ann Antrobus

(Sr. Helen's sister)

(Pages 29, 31, 51, 172-173)

The night Sister Helen first witnessed an execution.

 

Sister Helen Prejean

Sister Helen talks about the role of culture in blinding us to social justice, and in particular about her upbringing in the Jim Crow South.

Sister Helen Prejean

Sister Helen describes her first visit to death row, to see Patrick Sonnier. Filmed at Angola outside the old death row, which has now moved to a far back corner of the prison.